Trapped
by StainlessX
Summary: 8 strangers wake up in an all too familiar world. They must work together to survive and to discover how they came here, and why they were chosen.
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

**A/N:** **So I actually wrote this ages ago and have had the idea in my head for even longer. Although I've stopped playing the game, I still like this story and I want to finish writing it. This is just a quick intro to, what I hope will be, an epic mystery/drama.**

It was dark inside the small shack, as the sun cast a light glow over the horizon outside as it began to rise. Four people waited inside, one of them, unconscious, on the only bed. The other three were waiting patiently for her to wake up. They stood in an awkward silence as they were all strangers brought to a strange place that they all recognized. They had met four others here too; they were off exploring, making sure this was the place they all thought it to be. Now they waited for the last of them to wake up and explain this strange phenomenon that has happened to all of them. The light filled the room as someone opened the door. It was one of the four that left to explore this place. The three that were waiting all looked up as he entered. The boy had light blue hair, his bangs were long enough to cover half his face and the tips were spiked. He looked at all of them before speaking.

"It's what we thought" he spoke quietly sounding disappointed.

One of the others in the room, a girl with short pink hair, spoke "How is that even possible?"

"Let's not talk about it now, and just wait for Saruyama to wake up" said one the boys who was originally waiting.

"How do you know her name?" the pink haired girl asked.

"Its floating above her...You can see it?"he asked arching an eyebrow. The others just stared at him blankly.

"Well that would make sense, it's like that in the game" The blue hair boy said to break the silence.

"Sense?! How does any of this make sense? We're in a fucking video game!" the pink haired girl said loudly. Her outburst was followed by silence. The other boy who was originally waiting spoke up first.

"What's my name?"

"Huh?" Everyone looked at him like he had three heads.

"My name, you said you see them floating over our heads right?"

"Uh ya..." said the other boy, running a hand through his short brown hair, "it's Dazer," he pointed to the pink haired girl, "and you're Tamara," then he pointed to the blue haired boy in the doorway, "Arcanic"

"Hmm...interesting..." Arcanic said.

"What?"

"I was just thinking maybe we were able to choose our own names, while making our avatar; like in the actual game."

"But I don't remember choosing my name" Tamara said. The rest agreed, they couldn't remember much before waking up in here.  
Arcanic stood silent putting a hand to his chin, thinking of ways to make sense of this.

"Where are the others anyway?" Tamara asked Arcanic.

"Levelling" Arcanic said with a short chuckle, "I can't believe they are so laid back about this"

"Well..." said the brown haired boy, "it is cool. Being in my favourite game and all"

"It is possible we're all experiencing a mass hallucination" Tamara asked.

"It's more likely we were put into a virtual world" Arcanic said, "but as far as we know there is no such technology"

"I think it's more plausible that we're all hallucinating"

They all jumped when they heard a loud shriek. Turning to look at the bed, Saruyama was awake and freaking out. Tamara tried to walk over and calm her down but, while screaming, Saruyama smacked her away and tried to run for the door. Dazer grabbed her by the shoulders and pulled her to look at him.

"Calm down! You're ok. Don't be scared" Dazer soothed his voice to try and help her calm down. Saruyama's long blond hair was all over her face, but she stopped screaming as she looked at Dazer's blue eyes.

"What the hell is going on?" Saruyama asked, literally, shaking in her boots and looking around the room with obvious fear in her eyes. No one responded at first, unsure of what to say exactly. Saruyama had to ask again before Arcanic began to explain.

"We're not sure why or how but it..."Arcanic paused while he looked at Saruyama's terrified face, "it looks like we're in a video game"

"What video game?" Saruyama responded quickly.

"Ever heard of Flyff?"

**A/N: I think its ok rated at T for now, might have to bump up the rating at a later date. Please review ^^**


	2. Chapter 2

Saruyama was pacing now, with a worried look on her face. Dazer, Tamara, Arcanic and the boy with brown hair, patiently waited for her to say something. She had been like this since Arcanic had told her where they were. The brown haired boy was the first to break the silence.

"You don't happen to be able to see our names, do you?" he asked Saruyama, which made her stop.

"What?"

"Our names...are they floating over our heads?" Saruyama looked at each of them and simply nodded. The brown haired boy looked annoyed and glared at her.

"Well..." he asked raising his hands.

"'Well' what?!" she snapped.

"He wants to know what his name is" Tamara said, rolling her eyes. Dazer raised a hand to cover his mouth, and hold back a chuckle. Saruyama looked at the brown haired boy and said "Cagon (Cage-on)."

"Thank you!" Cagon scoffed and Saruyama continued to pace.

There was another long period of silence...until Saruyama sighed and put her hands through her hair. She then turned to the group of four who were waiting for her, and began asking questions.

"Are we the only ones here?"

"No," Arcanic answered, "there are 3 others"

"Why did he ask me if I could see names? Am I the only one who can?" She point to Cagon, but did not look at him directly.

"_**I**_," Cagon stressed, "asked because I was able to see theirs but not mine"

"Are we all level one, vags(being short for Vagrants, she says it like 'vague-s')?"

"Don't say 'vags'" Dazer said shaking his head.

"Why not?" Saruyama asked.

"It looks like the short form for 'vagina' in the chat box" Dazer explained.

"You can see the chat box?" Arcanic asked and everyone looked at him, as if to ask the same.

"I guess I'm the only one who can" Dazer said.

"Can you hear us too?" Tamara asked and Dazer nodded, "That's so cool..." Tamara whispered to herself.

"What's it look like?" Saruyama asked Dazer.

"Like a window on a computer screen, but it follows at the bottom of my view" Dazer said reaching out to where he saw the chat box; to everyone else there was nothing there. He also added that it moved as he moved his head and not when he moved his eyes.

"Can you close it?" Saruyama asked him.

"But what if I can't open it again?"

"Who cares?" Tamara told Dazer, "You can hear us anyway. And chances are if you can close it, you can open it again. We've just got to figure out how"

Dazer reached out again, "Ok, I closed it"

"Ok" Saruyama said as she began to pace again, putting a finger to her chin, "So we have some sort of window control, but it's like Tamara says, we've got to figure it all out. That might be why I can see your names and you guys can't. It must be an option in the Settings window...maybe. And what about our level and class? Are we level one vagrants like I think we are?"

Everyone looked down at their clothing. It was a simple red shirt and brown jacket with shorts for the boys and the girls had a simple red dress and brown jacket.

"Looks like we are" Tamara said patting down her dress.

"What do we do now?" Saruyama asked feeling completely lost. No one had an answer. They all just looked at each other expecting someone else to say something.

"Well..." Dazer broke the silence, "we can start by finding those other guys"

"Yah, good idea, I'm getting sick of this damn house" Cagon said walking to the door and opening it. Everyone followed him outside. They walked out into Flarine's east section; the only one that paused to look around was Saruyama. Her face lit up in awe, as she saw this familiar land, in front of her eyes.

"Not the time to be taking in the sites" Tamara told Saruyama, gently pushing her, to get her moving along.

"But this is amazing!" Saruyama said as she looked up at the sky then eventually downwards to the area in front of her, "Oh my gosh! Are those NPCs?" Saruyama gasped, "Is that Losha?!"

Losha, the young girl who runs the food store, stood there in front of her store, with her hands behind her back and a smile on her face. Saruyama approached her and stared at her. She looked like a real person so, unable to stop herself, Saruyama poked her cheek.

"Hello, welcome to Losha's Premium Foods Shop! We are here to serve the citizens of Flarine with the most tasty treats penya can buy! So whaddya say, are ya' hungry?"

Her voice was a squeaky cute one, that matched her appearance perfectly. Saruyama looked at her in disbelief, before poking her again.

"Hello, welcome to Losha's Premium Foods Shop! We are here to serve the citizens of Flarine with the most tasty treats penya can buy! So whaddya say, are ya' hungry?"

"Don't get too excited" Dazer walked up to her; "They only seem to be able to repeat themselves and not sell anything."

Saruyama pouted, "That's lame"

"Come on we should get moving!" Arcanic yelled, from where he stood near the bridge, "When I left them they were fighting the Pukepukes!"

**A/N:**** Wanted to write more in this chapter but I also wanted to post something to the story. Next chapter I'm thinking of doing it from the other threes perspective? I dunno, I'm suffering writers block =P. Hope you enjoyed. Please review.**


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

**A/N:**** Re-read chapter 2 and looking at how I did the pronunciation for Cagon doesn't look right. I wrote (Cage-on) but the way I say it sounds more like (Cage-in). Where did I get this name anyway? Lol whatever. Some weird names in this chapter too.**

"Yo blondie!" Shouted a boy with vagrant hat, that had shaggy brown hair under it.

"Stop calling me that!" The blond girl shouted back, after turning to face him. Her hair spun with her an slowly settled back down to her shoulders, "My name is Zavia(zah-via)."

"Yeah, whatever." The boy had approached her and was speaking normally now, "That other girl ran away again"

"God dammit Daigon(day-gon)! I told you to watch her; we need to stay together!" Zavia yelled.

"Uh, hi. I'm right here" Daigon said, mocking her with a wave, "And don't get so upset, I'm telling you so we can work together to find her" Zavia sighed, heavily and walked past him. She approached the edge of a river and stopped, waiting for Daigon to catch up.

"Do you think she crossed to fight the Doridomas?" Zavia asked.

"Well she could have walked around, by going up by those Dwarpet NPCs" Daigon said pointing north, to a small group of trees, where the Dwarpets camp was, "Either that or she walked even further to fight some Lawolfs"

"She'd be stupid to. She's only level 7, the Lawolfs will kill her"

"So then she just re-spawns in town. No big, right?"

"We don't know if that's what happens here. Remember when that Pukepuke cut you?"

"That was just a scratch," Daigon said looking at the spot of his arm, where the scratch was, "But maybe you're right. If this scratch hurt, imagine what a bite from a Lawolf would feel like."

"Should we go up there to see, if that's where she went?"

"Sure. I'm still not even tired after fighting all those Pukepukes"

"Really? Because I'm starting to feel it" Zavia said wiping her hand across her forehead. There was actual sweat, "I'd never thought I'd say this but I miss the click to auto-attack interface." Daigon laughed and started walking up the hill. Zavia kneeled next to the water and splashed her face. She looked into the water at unfamiliar green eyes and 'Zavia' written backwards was floating over her head. Daigon shouted for her and she shot up and walked swiftly towards him. The Captain Pukepukes let them pass, even though they mercilessly killed many of them not too long ago.

"If you can see our names can you see their names?" Daigon asked referring to the Pukepukes.

Zavia nodded, "Everything I've seen so far has been docile; all yellow names no red ones."

"Thank god" Daigon said and knocked on his wooden sword then laughed about it. Zavia smirked at his easy going behaviour. They walked onward until they could see a pack of Lawolves and as the two of them approached, the pack just passed by.

"I've never seen 'em travel in packs" Zavia muttered to herself as she watched them.

"Oh my god, that bitch be crazy" Daigon spoke in a monotone voice. Zavia looked over to him, confused, then looked to where he was facing. There was the girl, fighting a giant Lawolf. Zavia sprung into action, and ran to help.

"Come on, we've got to help her!" Zavia shouted back at Daigon, not even turning to face him.

"Right-o" Daigon said to himself and charged at the beast.

**A/N:**** Sorry it took so long and that it's short. Hope you enjoy it none the less and don't forget to comment. =)**


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

**A/N:**** Using Windows 7 side by side view, while writing this, to remind myself of the events in chapter 3. I like it =D. Just thought you should know lol**

With a full charge, Daigon leapt at the giant's side and plunged his wooden sword in as far as he could. The giant Lawolf yelped and swung an angry paw at the girl in front of him. She lifted her shield up in time to not get scratched by its huge claws. The blow still sent her flying a few feet, and she landed hard on the ground. Daigon meanwhile, climbed onto the beast's back and began to slash it from there. Zavia ran over to the girl.

"Valkerie (val-curry)! Are you ok?" Zavia knelt beside her and looked over her body, to check for any major damage. Valkerie's red flared hair was dirty and messy from the fall.

"Don't worry about me, love" Valkerie told her "Worry about the cowboy" Zavia turned her attention to Daigon and the giant Lawolf. Daigon kept stabbing it with his wooden sword, but the beast wouldn't stop flailing about, trying to get Daigon off its back. Zavia just looked afraid to attack, and even without that fear, she wouldn't know how to attack it. Valkerie also just laid there and watched.

"Think he can kill it by himself?"

"He shouldn't have to" Zavia said and began to run towards the fight. Daigon shouted at her to stay back, but she ran on. To both of their surprise she managed to dodge the giant's swinging hind legs, coming toward her. As they passed over her head, she swung her sword around to cut them. When the hit landed the beast almost immediately fell and stopped moving. Like the creatures they killed before, the giant Lawolf faded away, and Daigon landed on the ground where it once was.

"Well that was interesting" Daigon said panting.

"Look" Zavia pointed behind him, where three small sacks had fallen. Zavia approached it and picked them up.

"Is that loot?" Valkerie asked approaching behind them. Zavia opened one of the bags and pulled out a ring.

"Whoa…" Zavia leaned her head over while looking at the ring. She could see a transparent window appear next to the ring, saying what it was and what it did. She told the others what she saw. The one in her hand was an Arek ring. Looking through the other two, she found another Arek ring and an Intelli ring.

"Oh!" Valkerie spoke up seeing the blue ring "Can I have that one? I plan on being a mage when I hit 15"

"Sure I wanted an Arek anyway" Zavia said handing Valkerie the ring. Valkerie slide it on and then held her arm out at full length with her hand fully spanned and looked at it.

"Yay! Shiny…" Valkerie giggled.

"You're already thinking about what class you're gonna be?" Daigon asked receiving his Arek ring "Shouldn't we be thinkin' of ways to escape from…wherever we are?"

"Hell I'm more interested in why a Lawolf dropped three rings" Zavia said putting her own ring on.

"Whats wrong? Don't like the drop system?" The three of them looked at each other, to see who spoke.

"Over here!" Suddenly a man appeared with a gust of wind. His hair was short and dark and he wore a dark hoodie, zipped down to show his chest, with a pair of black jeans.

"Damn that's sexy" Valkerie said staring at the man as he approached. Zavia cautiously stepped back and grabbed the hilt of her sword.

"So…obvious question…who are you?" Daigon asked trying to be non- chalant about it.

"Irrelevant. I'm simply here to relay a message" The man said.

* * *

"What kind of message?" Arcanic spoke. Saruyama, Dazer, Cagon, Tamara and him were approached by a woman in an identical outfit.

"Just a simple one" The woman said in a calm sensual voice. She was sitting on a levitating broom, looking at her nails as she spoke.

"Out with it then!" Tamara said annoyed by the strangers presence.

"Just don't die and get to level fifteen as fast as possible"

* * *

"I could of figured that out on my own" Valkerie said, as the man left with another gust of wind.

"So we can die?" Zavia said a look of sorrow seem to wash over her face. Daigon patted her on the back.

"Bet you really miss that click and auto attack interface now huh?" He spoke with a smile, which made crack a small smile as well. Valkerie came up behind them and wrapped her arms around both of them.

"You heard the hot boy, lets get levelling!"

**A/N:**** Been another long while. As always please review :D**


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

Arcanic leaned against the inside of a giant gear that stuck out of the ground, and let out a sigh. Him and the other four had made it to the Pukepuke's area but there was no sign of the other players. Tamara was fighting the surrounding Pukepukes, with Dazer and Saruyama. Dazer was mostly helping Saruyama, since she kept getting scared half way through fighting a Pukepuke. Cagon was approaching Arcanic having just come back from the river just west of them.

"Well they could've gone across to the Doridormas, or further south to that area of Peakyturtles. And of course there's always the off chance they went to Lawolf hill" Cagon pointed north to the inclined terrain.

"What did you call it? 'Lawolf hill'?" Arcanic asked.

"Yeah, so?"

"Nothing" Arcanic said with a chuckle. The two of them didn't say anything for awhile and just watched the others fight.

"So are we gonna talk about that random Goth chick that showed up?" Cagon finally broke the silence.

"I just assumed it was some sort of NPC" Arcanic responded but didn't look towards Cagon. Cagon sighed and quietly agreed. There was another period of silence before Cagon spoke again.

"Should we listen to her and level up? I mean I don't even know what level I am" Cagon turned toward Arcanic.

"Have you killed anything?" Arcanic responded without looking towards Cagon again.

"Nope"

"Then you're level one"

"What about you?"

"I'm level 2"

"What did you kill?"

"An Aibatt"

"Just one? I thought you had to kill like 10 of those to reach level 2"

"Listen" Arcanic finally turned toward Cagon, "I'm not really in the mood to chit-chat, ok?" Cagon was taken aback by Arcanic's sudden rudeness.

"Don't you want to figure out what's going on?" Cagon asked him.

"I'm trying to but it's a little hard when you keep interrupting my train of thought" Arcanic said, returning his gaze towards the fighting vagrants.

"Do you mind sharing your thoughts?" Cagon ignored Arcanic's attempt to get him to stop talking, which further annoyed Arcanic.

Arcanic sighed "My thoughts are just that. I haven't actually figured anything out yet"

"Well maybe if we talk it out…" Cagon began to suggest.

"Go talk to someone else" Arcanic scoffed. Cagon snapped and grabbed Arcanic by the collar of his shirt.

"Listen buddy!" Cagon yelled catching the attention of Tamara. She jogged over to the two boys as Cagon continued to scream.

"We are all in this together! So you better start acting like a team player or I'm gonna – "

"You're gonna what?" Arcanic taunted him, "Hit me? Go right ahead you pig-headed little – "

"Hey!" Just as Tamara yelled Cagon punched Arcanic right in the face and let go of his collar. Arcanic fell onto his hands and knees and grunted as he hit the ground.

"What the fuck is wrong with you?" Tamara screamed at Cagon but was kneeling beside Arcanic to make sure he was ok. Cagon grunted angrily and walked away, toward Lawolf hill. Saruyama and Dazer were aware of what was happening now and joined Tamara in seeing if Arcanic was ok.

"What's with the PvP?" Dazer asked.

"Holy shit he's bleeding!" Saruyama said.

"Yeah that's what happens when you get punched in the face" Tamara said. She had a hand on Arcanic's nose, trying to stop the blood. She took off one of her gloves and used that instead. Arcanic eventually put his own hand there, and started wiping blood and tears from his face.

"I don't think I've ever seen blood in this game before" Saruyama said, "Hey Dazer what happened to those Meat Skewers and Orange Juices that you found?" Dazer looked at her and shrugged, saying they disappeared when he picked them up.

"Maybe I can open my inventory…" Dazer said and started moving his hands around seemingly touching nothing. From his perspective, he was touching nothing, but he was hoping that a certain action would open a window. To Dazer's surprise, his inventory window eventually popped up. He noticed that it was not like the one in the actual game. This one just showed the items in his inventory and not an image of his character, with what equipment he had on. Dazer reached for a picture of a Meat Skewer, and it appeared into his hand.

"Let's hope that there's no trading window" Dazer said and handed the Meat Skewer to Arcanic. Arcanic took it but was hesitant to put the strange piece of meat in his mouth. He closed his eyes tightly and took a bite.

"It's cold" Arcanic said with an unimpressed look on his face.

"It's working!" Saruyama said excitedly. The blood stopped flowing from Arcanic's nose and began to dry on his face. Arcanic was shocked at how fast it had worked.

"My nose doesn't hurt anymore" Arcanic said getting up and feeling his nose.

"Come let's go get you cleaned up" Tamara said. She took Arcanic by the arm and walked him over to the river to wash his face. Dazer and Saruyama followed.

"We're gonna go look for Cagon" Dazer said.

"We are?" Saruyama asked. Dazer didn't answer and just walked off toward Lawolf hill. Saruyama looked at him walking away, then back to Tamara, then back to Dazer.

"Wait up!" Saruyama said loudly as she dashed to catch up to Dazer.

* * *

"Hey up here!"

Cagon looked around when he heard a girl's voice. He had made it to the bottom of Lawolf hill, which seemed to take longer then he remembered from the actual game.

"Up here hot stuff!"

Cagon looked up at the top of the hill. Two girls were standing there, both in vagrant clothing, one with long blonde hair and the other with short flared red hair. Cagon began walking up the hill and the blonde girl met him half way.

"Did the other girl wake up?" Zavia asked. Cagon nodded and kept on walking up the hill. A little annoyed with his response, Zavia followed him to ask more questions.

"Where are the others?" Again Cagon didn't vocally respond, he just pointed south towards the giant gear sticking out of the ground and kept on walking. With a huff Zavia kept following him up the hill.

"Why did you come alone? Because I think we all need to discuss what's going on" Cagon stopped at the top of the hill. He took a deep breath, to calm himself down.

"I agree." Cagon started, not even looking at Zavia; instead he was looking at Valkerie and Daigon kill Lawolfs, "But I think some people may not want to."

Zavia walked in front of Cagon, looking confused, "Well I know Daigon and Valkerie want to. Even thought Valkerie can't seem to stand still for a minute. Who doesn't want to?"

"Arcanic" Cagon said; his face seemed to tense with anger.

"The one with blue hair? I know he's quite but – "

"I tried talking to him. He'd rather brood" Cagon's voice sounded annoyed and Zavia noticed.

"Try not to let it bother you" Zavia suggested. Cagon sighed and the anger in his voice and on his face vanished.

"He just reminds me of someone…" Cagon's mind wandered and his eyes stared into space, as he remembered. A scream broke him out of it. Cagon and Zavia looked down the hill and saw Saruyama and Dazer fighting a Lawolf. They ran to help, and as they got closer they noticed Dazer was fighting the Lawolf and Saruyama was cowering behind him. Dazer had finished it off by the time Cagon and Zavia made it down the hill. Dazer was glowing a dull yellow which made his bleeding arm stand out.

"Dazer! Your arm!" Zavia exclaimed. Calmly Dazer reached out as if he was grabbing air, and a Meat Skewer appeared in his hand. After eating it, the bleeding stopped and the glow faded.

"Whoa! How'd you do that?" Cagon asked. Dazer looked up at Cagon with a little smirk then back at his arm.

"The food seems to heal, like it does in the game. We found out after you punched Arcanic in the face"

"What? Why did you that?" Zavia sounded shocked.

"He pissed me off" Cagon said with no regret, "And I wasn't asking about the food. I meant the glow. What was that?" Dazer shrugged.

"That means he gained a level" Zavia said, "I've noticed it with Daigon and Valkerie. Except they were glowing red"

"Great how am I supposed to know what level I am?" Dazer said, and began to wave his arms around again, trying to open a window.

"You're level five" Zavia said and before anyone could ask she explained, "I can see your level next to your name"

"Why can't I?" Saruyama asked, mostly talking to herself.

"The experience seems incredibly increased. Valkerie went from level seven to thirteen in a few minutes of fighting Lawolfs" Zavia told them.

"Did you guys get the same message?" Saruyama asked.

"You mean level and don't die? Yeah. That guy was creepy" Zavia said. The others looked at her with confused expressions.

"Guy? The one who told us was a woman" Dazer said.

"Does their gender really matter?" Zavia asked.

"It's just weird. Why send two different NPCs to say the same thing?" Cagon said.

"Why send NPCs at all?" Dazer asked, "Why not just send a message to the whole server?"

"You mean like when the text comes on screen?" Saruyama asked and Dazer nodded.

"Our guy didn't seem like a NPC." Zavia said, "He was talking, not just repeating a message, like the ones in town"

"Yeah the woman that came to us was riding a broom. I don't think I've ever seen an NPC do that" Dazer admitted.

"Maybe they're like GMs" Saruyama said and everyone was a little shocked she knew what those were after her earlier comment.

"That sounds possible" Zavia said. Her mind started racing and it was like no one else was around her. She didn't stay pensive for long, because Daigon was screaming something at them from the top of the hill.

"Come on" Cagon said and began leading everyone up the hill. More Lawolf had re-spawned while they were talking, but none of them were aggressive. Daigon waited for them at the top with a smile on his face.

"I knew this chick was crazy but this is ridiculous" Daigon explained just as the others reached him.

"What are you – " Zavia began but stopped once she saw what Daigon was talking about. Valkerie had cut down some of the surrounding trees using her sword, and then crafted them to make some tent frames. She used the leaves of the trees to cover the gaps in the wood structure. Valkerie was in the middle of building a fourth tent when the others had approached her.

"How in the hell did you do this?" Cagon asked in awe of the work she had accomplished in such a short time. Without stopping Valkerie answered.

"I used to be a boy scout"

"Don't you mean a girl scout?" Saruyama asked, admiring the quickly made tents.

"No I mean a boy scout. I didn't like selling cookies, so I pointed out the sexism in the system and they let me be a boy scout." Valkerie explained, never stopping, "Mind you, no one in the boy scouts taught me to do this. I just happened to learn in while in the boy scouts"

"Umm…alright" Zavia looked even more confused, "But why are you making them?"

"It's getting dark. Haven't you noticed?" Zavia looked up at the sky, and only now noticed the twilight as the sun began to set.

"What about the Lawolfs? What if they attack us when we're trying to sleep?" Saruyama asked, sounding a little afraid.

"We can take guard shifts" Cagon suggested.

"Is anyone even tired?" Daigon asked. They all looked at each other, but no one spoke up.

"It's still early. You guys try and gain some levels before we call it a night" Valkerie suggested as she walked off to collect more leaves for the last tent.

"What about Tamara and Arcanic? Should one of us go back for them?" Saruyama asked.

"Pfft" Cagon rolled his eyes and Saruyama glared at him.

"Maybe it should be you," Saruyama suggested, "so you'll have a chance to apologise"

"Not a chance" Cagon said, walking away to go fight some Lawolfs.

"They saw where we went, Saruyama. They're probably on their way now" Dazer said reassuring her. Saruyama smiled and nodded at him.

**A/N:**** Reposted literally to change one word :)**


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

Tamara and Arcanic sat by the river; Arcanic just stared across it. Tamara had been waiting for him to say something since she helped wash the blood from his face. The sun was no longer visible as it just set behind the mountains. Arcanic shifted to a loose fetal position and rubbed his bare legs.

"You cold?"

"No"

Tamara shrugged, "I'm actually a little warm" She stood and took a few steps back before dashing and leaping into the river. The splash was loud and reached Arcanic; the water surprisingly warm on his skin.

"Holy shit! It's warm!" Tamara laughed delightedly as she floated. Arcanic moved closer to the water and cupped his hand in it. He watched as the puddle slowly trickled from his hand and back into the river.

"How did they get the water physics to be so…real?" Arcanic was getting goose bumps from the difference in the slight chill in the air and the warmth of the water.

"Hahaha. This is awesome" Tamara floated on her back only moving her right limbs to move in a circle.

"Why did you wait with me?" Arcanic asked still dipping his hand in and out of the water. Tamara didn't hear him the first time so he repeated himself.

"Why did you wait with me?"

"Well…" She continued to move in a circle as she spoke, "I don't think any of us should be on our own. Even if we think we know this world, we could still be in danger. Plus you remind me of someone."

"Who?"

Tamara stopped swimming in a circle but moved to the edge of the river to climb out. She had a concerned look on her face and her eyes were not focused on anything in view.

"All I can remember is his face…but" Tamara sounded confused and scared, "Why can't I remember more? I feel like I should…"

"I know what you mean. All I seem to remember is this game. A few faces as well but nothing else" Arcanic didn't sound alarmed.

"Is that what you were thinking about…you know before he punched you in the face?"

"Yes. I was trying to remember something else, like how I got here"

"Shit…" Tamara crossed her arms and rubbed them, "I don't like this feeling. Not being able to remember"

"It will come back to us. Most likely anyway" Arcanic reassured her.

"Fuck" Tamara said abruptly and Arcanic looked at her with concern, "Now I'm cold" Arcanic chuckled and stood offering a hand to help her up. She took it then returned to rubbing her cold arms.

"Come on we should meet up with them. You can warm up at their fire" Arcanic said.

"How do you know they have a fire?" Tamara started walking.

Arcanic pointed to the top of Lawolf Hill, "I can't imagine what else might make that kind of glow". Tamara looked up to where he pointed; the dull orange glow made her feel even colder.

"Ugh – come on let's hurry" Tamara started running surprising Arcanic. She had a good head start before he started running after her.

* * *

Valkerie had built four tents in total one of which she was now sleeping in. Everyone else that was awake were either fighting some Lawolfs or sitting by the fire. Zavia altered her gaze from the fire when she heard footsteps thudding from the incline of the hill. A pink blur could be seen in the darkness; as it got closer Zavia saw the name floating over her head. Tamara put her hands on her knees panting. She collapsed to her hands and knees and crawled towards the fire to lie down next to it. Daigon, who sat across from Zavia, cocked an eyebrow at Tamara then poked her with his foot. Tamara moaned and continued to ignore the presence of others. Daigon looked at Zavia and shrugged before going back to staring at the dancing flames.

"Umm…Tamara…why are you wet?" Zavia asked.

"She went for a swim in the river" Arcanic answered as he approached the fire following Tamara's path, "Apparently the water is warm"

Zavia let out a long yawn; stretching as she did, "Well now that you guys are back, I think I'll try and sleep"

"Who built the tents?" Arcanic asked only noticing them when Zavia spoke.

"The female boy scout" Daigon chuckled lazily; his weary eyes never looking up from the fire. Arcanic looked beyond the tents and could barely make out three figures fighting smaller figures. He left Tamara and Daigon by the fire, walked past Zavia as she went in one of the tents and approached Saruyama, Dazer and Cagon.

"You're here!" Saruyama said sounding surprisingly excited. Dazer looked towards Arcanic before he was going to attack another Lawolf; sword in hand and pulled back for a thrust. Cagon looked at him too but Arcanic thought it looked more like an evil glare. Cagon didn't say anything and began walking to the tents past Arcanic. Arcanic stopped him with his right hand but didn't look up at him.

"Just wanted to say I'm sorry"

"Pfft" Cagon pushed Arcanic's hand off and walked inside of a tent. Saruyama frowned at Cagon's reaction; Dazer just sighed.

"How's the levelling coming along?" Arcanic asked ignoring the rude way Cagon snubbed him.

"I'm pretty sure I'm level 10. Zavia told me I was level nine last time I asked but that was almost an hour ago now" Dazer explained.

"I've levelled a few times without even doing much" Saruyama smiled at her own mediocrity.

"She's right. It's been making me think that we're in a party." Dazer put his sword on his side and walked closer towards Arcanic.

"Have you tried opening the party window?" Arcanic asked and Dazer nodded.

"Yeah I was waving my arms around like an idiot for about ten minutes trying to see if it would pop up but I got nothing"

"Well we can test it another way. You up for killing more Lawolfs?" Arcanic asked Dazer.

"You can count me out." Saruyama let out a yawn, covering her mouth politely, "I'll call it day"

"I'm gonna crash too. Maybe wake up from this…whatever this is" Dazer said and followed Saruyama towards the tents, entering separate ones. Arcanic stared up at the night sky for a moment before returning to the fire. Tamara still lay on the ground and Daigon still stared at the fire although his eyes were barely open.

"Why don't you go to sleep Daigon?" Arcanic suggested as she sat across from Tamara. Daigon made some sort of grunting noise.

"I have first guard duty"

"Consider yourself relieved" Daigon nodded slowly, stood and walked into a tent.

"Umm wasn't that…" Tamara spoke up and then they heard a scream. Daigon walked out of Zavia's tent just as slowly as he entered and wandered into an empty one. Tamara chuckled to herself then rolled over so her back was to the fire. Arcanic sat awake; finally alone with his thoughts.

**A/N:**** Short and kind of overdue. Nonetheless I hope you enjoyed it and I hope you'll review.**


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Strings of light came through the leaf tent cover and onto the face of the young blonde girl. Zavia awoke feeling stiff and achy from lying on the ground all night. She sat up, rubbed her eyes, and crawled out of the tent. As she stood she covered her eyes from the harsh morning light. The fire had died out, Tamara still lay next to it; asleep and alone. Behind the tents Arcanic was awake and fighting Lawolfs; causing the only noise to be heard in an otherwise quite setting. Zavia saw that the number above his head had increased to fourteen. He must have been fighting all night, she thought. Zavia looked down at Tamara, whose level had also increased. The closest body of water wasn't worth walking to just to check her level in the water's reflection so she peaked inside everyone's tent. And just as she suspected everyone's level had increased.

"Looks like we are in a party" Zavia said walking up to Arcanic, who was taking a break on a rock. He was panting and sweating through his jacket. The sweat made his hair look greasy and Zavia could swear she saw dirt in it as well.

"I figured as much when I saw Tamara glowing"

"Yeah the leveling animation is different then what I remember" Zavia thought out loud, "Were you trying to get to level fifteen on your own?"

"Trying to get everyone to level fifteen actually" Arcanic stood and wiped his forehead with his arm, "But since you're awake, mind taking over?"

"I don't even know what level I am though. I wanted to have everyone reach level fifteen together" Zavia admitted.

"You're level thirteen so you should be fine"

"You can see levels now?"

"Yes. I spent some time figuring out how to open windows and I found the options window. Still haven't found the party window though" Arcanic told her, waving his arms in front of and touching windows she could not see.

"How did you manage to stay awake all night?" Zavia asked. Arcanic reached out and a small bottle appeared in his hand, "A stamina pot?"

"Yes, they seem to act like energy drinks. Although I haven't crashed yet and I've had at least ten of these" Arcanic put the small bottle back in his inventory, "I don't even know how close I am to fifteen"

There was a loud snarl coming from the tent area. Zavia and Arcanic both turned to see a Lawolf snapping at the tree branches that supported one of the tents. Arcanic and Zavia were to stunned to attack it; instead they observed as Cagon flew out of the tent in a rage sword in hand. First he kicked the beast, sending it closer to where Arcanic sat and away from the tents. At a full sprint Cagon lunged and cut the Lawolf down causing it to disintegrate before their eyes.

"What the hell!" Cagon yelled still in his fury.

"It had a red name..." Zavia said softly still in awe over the fact.

"Yes, I saw that too" Arcanic said.

"And you didn't try to stop it!" Cagon yelled.

"Hold on, Cagon look at yourself!" Zavia pointed at the boy. All of the anger washed from Cagon's face when he looked down to his chest. He was glowing green again like he had been last night as he leveled. But this time was different. Now the green light was pulsating brighter then it had been. But just like before it only lasted a moment.

"That was...different..." Arcanic noted.

"Sorry for the scare dear but I just got tired of waiting" A female voice echoed. The three of them looked around but didn't notice anyone speaking, "Up here dears" The female in black garb floated down on a broom.

"You again..." Arcanic and Cagon muttered at the same time. When they heard each other they exchanged angry glances before returning their attention to the woman on the broom.

"Just like that other guy..." Zavia thought a loud.

"Yes well, one of you have _finally _completed the assigned task" The woman spoke in an extremely bored tone, which her hooded face seemed to match.

"Oh! That must of been why the glow was different. Cagon's level fifteen" Arcanic surprised himself at how excited he was to voice his deduction.

"Very clever, blue boy" Again with the bored tone, "I'm sure you know what to do from here dear?" Cagon nodded cautiously, "Good" The woman pulled out a wand - from nowhere it seemed - and pointed it at Cagon. In an instant he disappeared and the woman left with a goodbye.

**A/N:**** I was bored. Felt like putting something out for this story after hearing the song that sort of originally inspired it. The inspiration to write more has unfortunately been crushed by melancholy. Only looked for spelling errors the computer showed me. Even though it was short, I hope you found it enjoyable.  
**


	8. Chapter 8

Cagon felt like he was thrown into the middle of a twister as the world around him whipped away to darkness. He felt the ground disappear and the wrath of the twister support him. He spun in this darkness for only a few moments before he was tossed onto cobblestone. He brought himself to his hands and knees and realized the pain was not what he expected. Cagon had hit the ground with enough force to at least cause a scrap but his hands and knees were clean. He felt the same odd feeling like when he was angry with Arcanic, a small tug at the back of his head like he was trying to remember something. Like before the feeling went away and he felt and knew what he had to do.

At level fifteen, the quest to take on the first job class became available to a vagrant. Cagon assumed that's why the woman had sent him back to Flarine. Still on his knees he looked around and from his surroundings figured he was in Northern Flarine. There were only four NPCs here though, unlike the game he remembered. Each had a title floating over there head: Mercenary Trainer, Acrobat Trainer, Magician Trainer, and Assist Trainer.

"It's been simplified" Cagon recognized that woman in black's voice; cool and sensual, "Just talk to whichever trainer you want"

Cagon looked to see her sitting on her floating broom behind him, glaring at him with bored eyes. Cagon stood without thought until he reached the Mercenary Trainer and turned around.

"Can you tell me what's happening?" Cagon asked, "Thinking about anything – like how or why we're here – just makes my head cloudy"

"Best not think on it dear" she told him and Cagon felt the oddity of being here drift away again, "Just concentrate on playing"

Cagon nodded and turned back to the Mercenary Trainer. This trainer had spiky brown hair and a goatee and was very muscular with wide shoulders. He wore a pauldron on his right shoulder with a cape under it that covered most of his right side. The only other armor he seemed to wear was a pair of boots over plain brown slacks. Cagon didn't know how to make him talk and after a moment of examining the NPC Cagon poked him in the chest.

"Congratulations on becoming a Mercenary!" The NPC didn't speak but Cagon could see the world appear over his head in a speech bubble. With a slash of his arm through the air the NPC dropped six items on the ground. From playing the game Cagon recognized them almost instantly as level fifteen mercenary gear. Even so as he knelt to pick each item off the ground a window appeared next to the item displaying its name and stats. It took him a moment to find his items window but once he did simply pressing the item equipped it to him. The wooden sword strapped to his back would turn all white before reappearing as a Petal Sword. The same happened for his armor except since he had no hat or shield before they just appeared on his head and back.

Cagon looked himself over in amazement and disbelief before snapping out of it. He ran off back toward Lawolf hill without even thinking about it.

* * *

Cagon and the girl on the broom had disappeared instantly. Arcanic was stunned to see them both turn all white then pinch together in a thin line. The effect reminded him of turning off a television.

"Cagon?" Zavia spoke softly but Arcanic heard the shock in her voice. Zavia's hands shot up to cover her mouth, "Oh my god – What happened to him?"

Slowly, everyone else was crawling out of their tents, most likely disturbed by the noise of the aggroed Lawolf. Zavia was still in shock, sitting on a rock away from the tents, by the time Arcanic had explained what had happened to the rest of the group.

"I'll make sure she's alright" Daigon stood but was stopped by Valkerie's hand on his shoulder.

"Leave it to me chump" Valkerie words were kind despite the name calling.

"So what happened to him? Is he...still here?" Dazer asked. Arcanic felt like he wanted to say 'still alive' but agreed on why Dazer most likely didn't say that. Saruyama was as close to full blown panic as Zavia, sitting with her arms wrapped around her knees.

"She wanted us to get to level fifteen why would she get rid of us when we finally got there?" Tamara asked.

With a gasp Saruyama spoke up in sheer delight, "The trainers are in town!" She stood quickly but paused when no one had reacted as fast as she had, "The trainer's for our next job! They're back in Flarine!" Arcanic had begun to see where Saruyama was going but not everyone else had.

"So..." Daigon's voice dragged on.

"So the witch bitch teleported him back to town. To move on to the next class" Tamara stated. Daigon awed in realization before running off to inform Zavia and Valkerie. Arcanic sat and unfocused himself from the rest of them to consider Saruyama's theory. He was interrupted by a smack on the head.

"Hey!"

"Not the time to be keeping any thoughts to yourself Blue!" Tamara stated and sat back down across from Arcanic.

With a grunt Arcanic explained, "We can test if what Saruyama is saying is true by getting to fifteen. I'm almost there so if we all start fighting - "

"Or we can go to Flarine and find Cagon" Arcanic spun around to see Zavia walking toward him. She seemed to have recovered from the shock of seeing Cagon disappear. Arcanic didn't understand why it had paralyzed her as it had though.

"We can get to fifteen faster than walking back" Arcanic argued.

"I don't care" Zavia spoke calmly enough but there was still an edge in her voice, "We shouldn't separate from each other"

"She's right" Tamara spoke up and walked over to stand beside Zavia, "Three of us will go look for him, the rest of you can finish getting to fifteen. Plus if Cagon's smart - "

"Which he's not" Arcanic commented earning him a glare from Tamara.

"He's most likely on his way back here" Tamra finished.

"But there's usually a quest to get to the next job class' Dazer added, "What if he's off doing that?"

"Then we'll look for him" Zavia told them, "I think I remember most of that quest"

"If we all just get to level fifteen we can - " Arcanic started but was cut off again, by Valkerie this time.

"Quite Blue. You lose. Me, Zavia and Tamara will go looking for him and we'll find you guys later. End of discussion"

"Umm guys..."

"That was not a discussion you just told everyone what to do!" Arcanic was getting frustrated now. He could hear it in his own voice but more than that he could feel himself getting warmer.

"Guys..."

"Would you both calm down" Dazer tried to step in putting his hands up between Arcanic and the group of girls.

Arcanic recognized all the symptoms of his rage but wasn't able to stop himself from screaming "If we split up every time just to find one person we're all going to die here!"

"Guys!" Saruyama finally caught the groups attention with her screech of fear. She stood outside of the circle the argument had formed with her sword shaking in her hand and pointing toward a pack of Lawolfs.

"Oh shit!" Zavia reacted the fastest of them all and ran in front of Saruyama," They're red! They're all red!"

Arcanic took a breath to calm himself quickly and took a look around. Not only were there the pack of ten to twenty in front of Zavia but three other packs were slowly surrounding them. Arcanic wiped out his wooden sword but did not make another move.

"Ok ok ok ok ok" Arcanic said quickly spinning slowly to look over the packs again. He didn't even think of doing the math in his head as he spoke, "Four packs. Two of us to each one. Zavia and Saru. Dazer and Daigon. Tamara and Val. You guys understand?" To Arcanic's surprise not only did they react nearly right away but they listened to him. He felt an oddity in thinking that they wouldn't listen but quickly snapped out of it when a Lawolf snarled at him.

"And what, your just supposed to take a pack by yourself?" Tamara asked sounding a bit annoyed.

"I'll blame Cagon for it later" Arcanic growled before lunging at the nearest Lawolf.

**A/N: Been awhile but I've been thinking of this story lately. The final push came from an anime, Sword Art Online, which has a similar storyline to this in that players are stuck in a video game. Although I think I like Sword Art Online as a video game more. As always I hope you enjoyed the read. Barely check for grammatical errors :P  
**


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